Former Dallas Cowboys star and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin settled his defamation lawsuit against Marriott and officially made his return to the NFL Network on Sunday morning, in time to begin the 2023 season.
Irvin filed a $100 million lawsuit against Marriott and six others for defamation and tortious interference in a business relationship after a female employee accused him of making lewd and inappropriate comments in a hotel lobby in Arizona in February. He was removed from the NFL Network’s Super Bowl coverage in light of the incident and has been off since then.
He and Marriott have settled that lawsuit since then, the Dallas Morning News reported on Sunday morning. However, the terms of the settlement are not known.
“Michael Irvin has been reinstated and will be a part of the NFL Network’s coverage of the 2023 season,” NFL Media vice president of communication Alex Riethmiller said in a statement, via The Dallas Morning News.
An employee of the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel accused Irvin of misconduct before the Super Bowl earlier this year. However, the specifics of the allegations were not made clear right away. In a legal motion, Marriot stated that he called the hotel employee, “appeared to be visibly intoxicated” and began “aggressive” behaviour toward her after returning to the hotel from dinner that night.
Video of the event with the female employee was released in March, although Marriott wanted to prevent its release. Irvin was seen shaking hands with the woman, he touched her arm twice, and then they parted ways after a roughly two-minute encounter.
He denied the allegations against him at every turn, saying he was “baffled’’ by it all. He told the Dallas Morning News that he had been drinking earlier that night at dinner and did not remember the details of the conversation.
“This all happened in a 45-second conversation in the lobby,” he said earlier this year. “When I got back after going out … I came into the lobby, and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds. We shook hands. Then, I left. … That’s all I know.
“I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth. We were out drinking. It was just a friendly conversation. ‘What’s up?’ I don’t even know. … I am totally perplexed.’
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